Abbott Laboratories swings to 4Q loss related to Kos acquisition

Health care products maker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday it swung to a fourth-quarter loss due to its $3.7 billion acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., but beat Wall Street's estimates for adjusted profit and sales.

Strong sales of its blockbuster Humira and other drugs boosted the company's results above expectations.

The company reported a loss of $476.2 million, or 31 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with profit of $976.4 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding charges of $1.3 billion mostly related to the Kos deal, Abbott posted adjusted profit of $1.15 billion, or 75 cents per share, for the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $6.22 billion from $6.05 billion a year ago, as global sales of anti-inflammatory drug Humira jumped nearly 41 percent to $620 million.

The results beat analysts' profit estimate by a penny a share and easily topped the Street's sales consensus of $6.18 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Other top-selling drugs in the quarter included antibiotics Biaxin and Omnicef with sales of $235 million and $230 million respectively, amid pressure from generic competition. Synthroid, a hormone replacement drug, came in below some analysts' expectations with sales of $132 million.

"Abbott's pharmaceuticals business continued to shine in the fourth quarter, with its flagship product Humira leading the way once again," Glenn Novarro of Banc of America Securities wrote in a note to investors.

The company forecast 2007 operating profit of $2.77 to $2.83 per share, reflecting the recently announced sale of Abbott's core laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic businesses to General Electric Co. Analysts were estimating 2007 earnings of $2.79 per share.

Abbott expects 2007 global sales of Humira to exceed $2.7 billion.

For the full year, net earnings declined 49 percent to $1.7 billion from $3.4 billion. Revenue rose 0.6 percent to $22.5 billion from $22.3 billion.

"2006 was a highly productive and successful year for Abbott," said Chairman and CEO Miles White. "We completed several major transformational changes that significantly strengthened the mix of our broad-based portfolio as well as the diversity of our strong cash flows."

Shares in the company, which rose 24 percent last year, rose 2 cents to $53.40 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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